In which I bitch. Probably a lot.

Tag Archives: scared

So here I am. I have pencils. I have paper. I have Post-Its. I have time set aside each day. I have a basic plot. And this is all I have.

I’m so flying by the seat of my pants here. I’m not even going to pretend anymore. This shit is scary. Due to the scary, I figured that I should post a few more things to make myself feel better before I go about plotting my ass off for the remainder of the night.

Do not worry about not making the daily word goal. There will be days that you’ll write more and days that you’ll write less because that is how you write. The goal is the overall 50,000, not what you do each day.

It does not have to be perfect. It doesn’t even have to be good. Rough drafts are rough for a reason and you’re just getting the ideas down so that you can further smooth them out in editing. The general outline of the novel should be there, but odds are that it will change drastically from this draft anyway. Don’t sweat it.

Don’t forget to eat and drink. You always do that. You can’t write if your brain can’t do the work. Have plenty of water, eat regularly, snack as needed.

And for the Eld’s sake, make some of the snacking healthy. Bite sized fruit (grapes and tomatoes) and baked crackers (CHEEZ-ITS) are good in addition to the ice cream and chocolate and hard candy, okay?

Reward yourself. This week’s reward is a bit of Ben & Jerry’s. Next week? Maybe some homemade cheesecake bites.

Look at your word count only once per day, at the very end of the 24 hours. 11:59 PM is Word Count Update Time.

You will get woefully behind on your shows. Deal with it. Either stay off of Tumblr for a month or heed the spoilers warnings.

Turn off the internal editor. Right now. Editor off. NOW. Write with abandon. Free yourself from constant thoughts of ‘could I do this better?’ Yes, probably, but no one cares right now because it’s a first fucking draft and it’s supposed to be awful.

Have fun. Plot, scheme, save the day, the world, or just yourself. Live a little, write a lot. Do it for yourself. You know you need to do this. Winning would be awesome, but not necessary. Just do it for the lulz.

Work hard. Do. While it should be fun, it will be hard work. It will be stressful and trying and you will probably cry at least once. You will think that it is too hard. Keep going. Don’t let your brain stop you this time.

Don’t let anyone stop you. You deserve one month of indulgence in this. Take it. Use it. Make yourself proud for the first time in years.

And it is now just over an hour before things start. Can I do this? Hell yes. The hell you think I am, a wuss? I can knock this shit out better than Dean Winchester can hunt supernatural baddies.

In an attempt to make myself do something worthwhile, I’m participating in NaNoWriMo this year. To be honest, I’m kind of scared of this.

I’ve had a novel idea in my head for about five years. A couple of years ago I started writing out the idea. That became a very basic outline for a world. Over the course of November, I hope to take that world and flesh it out into something rough and only somewhat resembling a finished novel. I need to create characters that are more thought out than the vague notions in my head right now, and I think that’s what scares me the most.

I know, somewhere deep in my subconscious, that I can write really awesome, really inspiring characters. The surface of my brain is flailing, however. “What if my character is too perfect?” “What if my character is too flawed?” “What if this guy seems fake?” “What if I do this wrong?” To combat this part of my brain, I’m taking a little bit out of my world building to make a post in which to tell myself a few things.

Your characters do not have to be perfect in a rough draft. It’s rough for a reason, and they can be fleshed out more in editing.

By the end of the rough, you will know your characters well. You will have gone through some great trials together. Don’t worry about not knowing them so completely when you start. You don’t just *know* about someone the minute you meet them. Getting to know your characters as you write them is like getting to know someone in real life: it happens gradually and naturally.

If you find something out about your character as you’re writing that you should remember for later, make note of it on a document for that character. By the end of the rough, you should have a good list of traits, interests, and feelings that makes the character unique and three dimensional.

When editing, keep these lists of things in mind. Use the tidbits of information in appropriate spots to flesh out characters and/or advance your plot.

You do not have to publish your NaNoWriMo novel as it is written during NaNoWriMo. Don’t write as though you do.